Virtual Laboratory for Flexural Beam Testing
Faculty Sponsor
Nick Rosasco
College
Arts and Sciences
Discipline(s)
Computing and Information Systems
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 5-4-2017
Abstract
As part of an ongoing project to build out a suite of enhanced curricular tools for the Valparaiso University Civil Engineering Department, a group from Computing and Information Systems (CIS) has been tasked with creating a curricular support product that presents data from flexural concrete beam testing. The project follows earlier prototyping conducted in previous semesters and builds on the designs and requirements captured through the earlier efforts; this provides an experience of building on prior software engineering products for the CIS team. Additionally, the latest iteration adds a MATLAB-based image processing tool that adapts the photos for proper display. The system also incorporates a back-end website for tool administrators that is constructed with PHP that allows faculty to manage uploaded data sets. The user-facing site then displays photos from the concrete flexural beam test concurrently with the numeric data from the tests in an interactive manner for the students. This reusable educational asset will allow students to experience a flexural concrete beam test and retrieve its data without wasting additional time and monetary resources. The long-term goal is for the project to become a starting point for a multi-institutional education asset, creating greater curricular flexibility and increasing cost savings.
Recommended Citation
Greenhagen, Chase M.; Dillon, Benjamin; Fritze, Leighton; Wallace, Clarence; and Uchekwe, Henry, "Virtual Laboratory for Flexural Beam Testing" (2017). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 605.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/605
Poster
Biographical Information about Author(s)
Ben Dillon, Chase Greenhagen, Leighton Fritze, Clarence Wallace, and Henry Uchekwe are pursuing computer science or computer engineering degrees at Valparaiso University. They view this virtual laboratory software as a unique and effective curricular support system that can be transferable to other academic programs. All team members believe their programming backgrounds can contribute to the project requirements. They are all interested in pursuing careers in software development. The team is hopeful it will benefit the university and be a lasting contribution.